Vicki Yohe

ChristianMusicMonthly.com Interview
Vicki Yohe
By Mark Weber, primopr716@juno.com

The thing I love about Christian music is how every now and then I discover, for myself, a singer who not only can sing the roof off the church, but who also has a humble spirit, coupled with a transparent, open and giving attitude toward people. Throw in “the anointing,” where God steps in and touches the music so that a song is not just a song, but, rather, a direct connection between you and heaven, and you’ve got a worshiper worth knowing with the extraordinary Vicki Yohe.

If there was a “Diva Idol” competition, it would make sense that Celine Dion, Patti LaBelle, and Christina Aguilera would compete, but put Yohe in the mix, and she’d surprise everyone with her strong, brassy voice that’s able to deftly cover the lowest of low notes along with the soaring, stratospheric high notes, too. The audience would probably vote Yohe the winner of this hypothetical contest, when they got to know the story behind the singer. Unlike her competition, Yohe values praising God over money, fame and accolades.

Like most people, I didn’t know about Yohe until a few years ago when she signed to CeCe Winans’ Pure Springs Gospel label and had a massive gospel hit with Martha Munizzi’s song, “Because Of Who You Are.”

In many ways, Yohe could be described as “the white CeCe Winans.” They both have strong voices and hearts, and the unique ability to make music that appeals to people of all ages and backgrounds. Like her fellow blonde friend Martha Munizzi, Yohe finds herself singing for a mostly black gospel crowd, and loving it.

“I’ve been on the road traveling for 15 years,” says Yohe. “I had two other labels, Giant and Aluminum. They were small and just couldn’t get my music out to where it needed to go. I felt like the gospel market was really my market and they just never knew how to do it. Thank God CeCe Winans learned of my ministry through seeing me on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).”

Yohe prayed about signing with Winans’ label for six months.

“I was at the point where I had been out there for so long and I really wanted God’s confirmation that I should sign,” she remembers. “I felt like: I stay busy, I do over 150 dates a year, with or without a record label. God has just blessed me with favor with churches. I do a lot of conferences, Bishop T.D. Jakes, for instance. I don’t say that to brag, I just say that God has really blessed me. I was at a point where I’d do my own CD, sell them on the road, minister to people on the road and if God would send a record label along that would really get the music to where it needs to go, then I would sign, so my husband and I prayed about it for six months before I signed with Winans.”

Lots of people are amazed that Yohe would keep Winans essentially “on-hold” for half a year.

“But I really wanted to know that it was God,” she says. “I went to a conference at Winans’ church. I sang a song that night. They had praise and worship. CeCe Winans laid on her back, weeping all night in worship, and at 12:30 at night they carried her out and took her to her room. That spoke volumes to me. When I got home, and talked with my husband, I knew without a doubt we should sign with her label.”

Her 2003 release, “I Just Want You,” on Winans’ label had “the anointing,” with songs like “Because Of Who You Are” and “Mercy Seat,” a song she had made popular in the 1990s when it was used repeatedly at the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida.

How did Yohe, a blonde, white woman, get to be such a powerful, emotive, and anointed singer?

“My father was a pastor of a mostly black congregation,” she says. “My father and mother both sang with a lot of soul. We always had Edwin Hawkins and Andrae Crouch playing in our house. That was the kind of music I grew up around.”

After writing and singing her first song at the age of five, the Louisiana-born singer later became a choir director in Baton Rouge after attending Jackson College of Ministries. She released her first CD in 1992 after her family surprised her with funding for the project.

As Yohe grew older, she became really frustrated with the smaller record companies she recorded for because they were Christian rock.

“I’d record songs and felt like I was anointed but I didn’t feel like ‘this is really me,’” she remembers. “I struggled with that until I signed with CeCe Winans. I told the people at Winans’ label, “Listen, I know the music I need to be singing and I know the style and I just haven’t had anybody who really hit it, you know?” Thankfully, the folks at Pure Springs Gospel turned out to be the perfect match for Yohe’s musical ministry.

“And I think that this new CD of mine, ‘He’s Been Faithful,’ is really Vicki,” says the singer. “Out of all my CDs, this is really who I am. I’m so pleased with it.”

Sanchez Harley (Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin, RiZen, Aretha Franklin), Geron Davis (Barbra Streisand) and Ay’Ron Lewis (RiZen) all had a hand in producing the new CD, which features several radio singles, including “Deliverance Is Available To You,” “I Simply Love You,” and “I’ll Run To You,” along with a duet, “Increase Me,” featuring Alvin Slaughter. But it’s the title track that stands out.

In the past, chances are you’ve heard Damaris Carbaugh or the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sing the classic song, “He’s Been Faithful.” Now Yohe has, as American Idol judges might say, “made it her own.”

“I’ve used the sound track for ‘He’s Been Faithful’ for 18 years,” says Yohe. “I just love that song.”

Yohe decided to record “He’s Been Faithful” after adopting her first child in March 2005. When she and her husband, Troy Hodges, were trying to decide what to name the new CD, they agreed that “He’s Been Faithful” would be the perfect title.

“After being married for 9 years—no children—praying desperately that God would give us a baby,” she says, “my friend Darlene Bishop, from Ohio, who works with teen mothers, called me and said she’d have a baby for us in one week.”

Yohe and her husband were so excited. They had been praying for a child for years, and now God was working it out for them to have one, through adoption. It was evident to the couple that God was, indeed, faithful.

Bishop told Yohe that the birth mother had just turned 16 and was going to give the baby up for adoption because she didn’t have anything to offer it, and her racist father was opposed to his white girl having a bi-racial baby.

“So I went there the next day and met this young lady,” says Yohe. “And the next week I sat by her side and I cut the cord and I was the first one to hold him. So the Lord has been faithful to me. I’ve been singing all these years and finally it’s the right time, the perfect time to title my CD ‘He’s Been Faithful’ because I have the most gorgeous bi-racial baby boy, Walker Winston Hodges.”

In all seriousness, Yohe says her son will be the President of the United States. If that doesn’t happen, she is sure that “he will lead people one of these days—the hand of God is all over him.”

Little Walker already has his own website, www.walkerwinstonhodges.com. On the site there are pictures of Walker with bishops, pastors and singers, people like Yolanda Adams and Bishop T.D. Jakes, who dedicated him to the Lord.

“Thank God Walker is alive,” says Yohe, “because so many people in his birth mother’s world wanted him to be aborted, but she said, ‘No, I can’t do that, but I will place him,’ and thank God she placed him in our hands.”

Yohe is busy being a mother, but she's also busy as a singer, and her songs really have a way of connecting with people. One of Yohe’s most moving songs is “Anoint Me Lord,” from her 2003 release.

“I wrote ‘Anoint Me Lord’ when I was 16, and I’m 40 now,” she says. “That song is my prayer. When people want to know about Vicki Yohe they should listen to that song. I prayed that in my closet when I was 16-years-old and then I put it to music.”

“Anoint Me Lord” and several songs off her latest CD, “He’s Been Faithful,” will give you an idea of what Yohe wants.

“I want God’s hand upon my life,” she says. “When I open my mouth to speak or sing, I want people’s lives to be changed. I feel like if it’s not going to do ministry, then why am I singing gospel/Christian music? Is it going to just be to sing a cute song? Why use that if it’s not going to be ministry? It’s all about ministry with me.”

“I am a minister,” she continues. “I do exhort. My desire is to be anointed— that when I open my mouth to speak or sing that it’s not ‘just a song.’ Song selection is so important to me.”

A song off her 2003 release, “In The Waiting,” was one important song that had a profound effect on a listener.

“A lady called the ministry and told us how she walked into her bedroom to find her husband sitting on the bed with a gun to his head,” says Yohe. “She said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he said, ‘Our finances are messed up, our marriage is a mess, I just can’t take it anymore.’ She said, ‘Wait, wait, you have to listen to this song by Vicki Yohe, ‘In The Waiting.’ He said, ‘Ok, I’ll listen to it.’ She said she played that song and he put his gun down and began to weep.”

At the end of “In The Waiting,” the husband looked at his wife and said, “I’m going to wait on God.”

“That’s ministry,” says Yohe, “when you have a song that can save a life like that. That testimony of that lady who called has really done something to me.”

Besides singing in churches, at conferences, and taking the time to promote “He’s Been Faithful,” Yohe is also involved in opening an orphanage in the African country of Uganda. In order to stay spiritually strong, Yohe stays grounded in the Word of God and encourages those she meets to do the same.

“I don’t know how you could even exist in the time we’re living without getting into the Word of God,” she says. “With the things the world’s faced in the last few months or so, like hurricanes and high gas prices, we need Jesus now more than ever.”

For more info, please visit www.vickiyohe.org

BONUS: Here is what Vicki had to say in her Christmas 2006 letter to her fans:

As I reflect on 2006, I am overwhelmed by what God has done in my life and in this ministry. At the beginning of this year, I had no idea what He was about to do. In October of 2005 God miraculously launched New Destiny for Children through this ministry. New Destiny for Children is a God-ordained home located in Uganda, Africa, one of the poorest nations in the world.

This home provides a Christ-centered atmosphere to care for children who have been orphaned and abandoned by parents who suffered with aids. When God touched my heart with this vision, my husband Troy and I made it a matter of prayer, and what God has done since we said yes has been amazing!

Our growing family at New Destiny includes children from ages 3 to 13, as well as a full-time staff of 16. Our goal extends beyond just providing food, clothing and shelter for each child. We are committed to teaching them in the ways of the Lord and raising up future leaders in Uganda — presidents, ambassadors and citizens that will make a difference in their nation. Our goal is to empower our children.

God has truly blessed me and enlarged my territory this year, and if I had the opportunity today to sit down and talk face to face with you today, there’s so much I would share with you. For example, I would tell you about Timothy, a Ugandan boy about 4 years of age. He came to New Destiny after we received information from an official from one of the local districts.

An elderly woman found him near a gate in a remote village, his age could only be approximated at 2 years old. She named him Timothy Mukisa, which means “blessing”, and for over a year, did the best she could to provide for him. However, there was barely enough provision for her, and she was handicapped with only one hand.

My husband Troy was visiting New Destiny at the time so he was able to be a part of taking in this young man, and beginning his new life. Our director drove many hours to the remote village where Timothy was staying and returned with him the next day. As Timothy sat down to eat his first meal at New Destiny, Troy had one of the staff members speak to him in his tribal language, as Timothy did not know any English. Through the interpreter, Troy told Timothy that he was now in a safe place, and that he would never know hunger or lack, that he would get the best education possible, and that he would grow to be a great man of God. As Troy spoke the words, tears began to roll down Timothy’s face.

The next morning as the sun rose on New Destiny for Children, Troy heard singing coming from one of the boy’s rooms down the corridor. He followed the sound, and soon discovered the singing was coming from Timothy’s room. As Troy said good morning, he was greeted with a big smile, followed by more singing! In less than 24 hours, a miracle had already begun to take place in Timothy’s life. The once sad- eyed little boy found near a gate was now singing and happy. Today, he’s part of the New Destiny family; tomorrow he may become a leader whom God can use to change his nation!

We are committed to building a strong family unit at New Destiny for Children, and to raising up leaders to impact Uganda for the gospel. As we approach this holiday season, I am asking you to prayerfully consider partnering with us to help make a difference in the lives of these children and all those whom God will bring to us at New Destiny, now and for eternity! Your one time or monthly gift will help us continue to provide food, clothing, shelter, and an education for each precious child that God has entrusted to us, plus make this Christmas season extra special for each child.

Please take time to prayerfully consider partnering with me to make a difference in the lives of children like Timothy. I believe with all my heart that God Almighty is going to bring many more children to us at New Destiny in the days and months ahead. This means greater responsibility, but with greater responsibility comes greater rewards. Rewards that are measured in changed lives for eternity!

God has called us, He has opened the doors before us, and directed us each step of the way. I am confident that He will continue to provide the direction we need as well as the finances. I’m inviting you to share in the privilege. Take time today to prayerfully ask the Lord what He would have you do, and respond as He leads.

Find out more at www.newdestinyforchildren.com or call 615-370-3222.

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